The comedian shared the story during an interview with Howard Stern on Monday.
Sarah Silverman is opening up about her friendship with Louis C.K.
The comedian was a guest on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show on Monday, where she claimed she gave C.K. consent to masturbate in front of her when they were younger and just "letting our freak flags fly." The interview comes just a few months after FX completed their internal investigation into C.K., after the network cut ties with the embattled comedian following his confirmation last November that sexual misconduct allegations made against him were true.
"I don't know if I'm going to regret saying this. I've known Louis forever, I'm not making excuses for him, so please don't take this that way," Silverman said. "We are peers. We are equals. When we were kids, and he asked if he could masturbate in front of me, sometimes I'd go, 'F**k yeah, I want to see that!'"
"It's not analogous to the other women that are talking about what he did to them," she added. "He could offer me nothing. We were only just friends. So sometimes, yeah, I wanted to see it, it was amazing. Sometimes I would say, 'F**king no, gross,' and we got pizza."
Silverman continued on, telling Stern that she's "not saying what [Louis C.K.] did was OK," referring to the allegations, but once you become "influential in the world of comedy," the dynamic "changes."
"He felt like he was the same person, but the dynamic was different and it was not OK," she said. "I'm not saying everyone should embrace Louis again. I believe he has remorse. I just want him to talk about it on stage. He's going to have to find his way or not find his way."
Later, Silverman told Stern she hasn't spoken to C.K. in nearly three months. She also addressed the scandal last November, shortly after news of the allegations against C.K. broke.
"I love Louis, but Louis did these things," Silverman said during her Hulu series, I Love You, America. "I just keep asking myself, 'Can you love someone who did bad things? Can you still love them?' I can mull that over later, certainly, because the only people that matter right now are the victims. They are victims, and they're victims because of something he did."
C.K. released his own statement at the time, confirming the stories from the five women accusing him of sexual misconduct that were published in The New York Times were true.
"These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was OK because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first, which is also true," the statement read. "But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn't a question. It's a predicament for them."
"The power I had over these women is that they admired me," C.K.'s statement continued. "And I wielded that power irresponsibly. I have been remorseful of my actions. And I've tried to learn from them. And run from them. Now I'm aware of the extent of the impact of my actions. I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen."
Read the full statement here, and hear more on C.K. in the video below.
RELATED CONTENT:
